Participated · Seed · Aug 2020

iFarm develops an adaptive vertical-farm management platform that combines computer vision, machine learning and data from a distributed network of farms to automate and optimize crop growth. Its iFarm Growtune platform can determine plant weight, detect growth deviations or pathologies, provide recommendations to staff and adjust microclimate settings autonomously. The company sells technologies that enable customers to start growing produce in empty warehouses, factory shops, basements and distribution centers. iFarm plans to use new funding to further develop the Growtune platform, quadruple the number of plants supported by its technology and optimize automated production lines to reduce labor costs. It is also completing experiments to grow strawberries, cherry tomatoes, sweet peppers, radish and other crops. Led by co-founder and CEO Alex Lyskovsky, iFarm had over 50 ongoing projects with clients in Europe and the Middle East for 2020 and an industrial vertical farm based on its tech due to launch in Finland by the end of the year. iFarm Project develops an integrated vertical farming system combining proprietary multi‑layered horizontal shelving hardware and a cloud‑based software platform that controls microclimates and delivers downloadable "growing recipes." The company’s closed‑ecosystem approach and internal sterile contour technology aim to eliminate the need for pesticides and washing of produce. Their platform supports multiple crops today, including basil, arugula, spinach, cilantro and strawberries, and is designed to be modular and scalable to fit basements, roofs or spare rooms. iFarm has built five vertical farms and urban greenhouses in Moscow and Novosibirsk and employs a team of over 30 people. Near‑term plans include applying the technology to floriculture and piloting the system in the European market, with an EU showroom planned in 2019. The company was founded in 2017 and emphasizes both hardware and software development to expand cultivation solutions and automation.

Led · Equity · Feb 2013

Game Insight develops free-to-play casual games for mobile platforms and social networks, including iOS, Android and platforms such as Facebook and Orkut. Its portfolio includes titles like Mystery Manor, Paradise Island, Airport City and Lord of Atlantis. The company was founded in 2010 and operates more than ten studios with over 400 game developers. It also maintains an office in San Francisco. Game Insight distributes games across the United States, Europe, Korea, Japan, China and South America. Recently the company received new outside investment that valued it at around $550M.

Led · Equity · Dec 2012

Dish.fm is a restaurant recommendation mobile app that identifies the "best dish" at a given location by performing sentiment analysis on public reviews and tips aggregated from Yelp, Foursquare and Instagram. The app counts extracted positive reviews as likes, and selects photos by analyzing photo likes and the poster's follower count to present candidate dish images. It emphasizes quick discovery and one-click liking rather than requiring users to create original content, replacing an earlier crowdsourced-photo approach. At launch it supports New York and San Francisco, offering about 100,000 photos and dish recommendations based on roughly 3 million reviews. The company plans near-term expansion to other U.S. markets including Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston and aims to scale to 100 million reviews by the first half of 2013. Dish.fm is based in Moscow, intends to keep development there while establishing a commercial, sales and marketing office in San Francisco, and is not currently monetized.